Advocacy & Issues

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 establishes two new programs providing state Housing Credit allocating agencies with new tools to support Housing Credit-financed rental housing—the Tax Credit Assistance Program (TCAP), administered by HUD, and authority to exchange Housing Credits for cash (the Exchange program), administered by Treasury. Although HUD and Treasury have not provided guidance on state implementation of these programs, some states have published preliminary information on how they intend to implement these new programs.

State HFAs and their partners provide affordable housing for elderly persons through the Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly program, the Section 8 program, and other affordable housing programs.

State HFAs offer homeless assistance through a number of programs authorized by the McKinney-Vento Act, including the emergency shelter grants (ESG) program and the shelter plus care (S+C) program, and through a blend of other affordable and supportive housing funds and programs, including state housing trust funds.

State and local governments sell tax-exempt Housing Bonds, commonly known as Mortgage Revenue Bonds (MRBs) and Multifamily Housing Bonds, and use the proceeds to finance low-cost mortgages for lower income first-time homebuyers or the production of apartments at rents affordable to lower income families.

Congress created the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (Housing Credit) in 1986 to encourage the construction and rehabilitation of affordable apartments by offering owners of such housing a credit against tax liability for 10 years. Advocating for support for the Housing Credit program is one of NCSHA’s Legislative Priorities.

Authorized by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA), the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) provides emergency funding in grants to states and localities to aid in the purchasing, rehabilitating, redeveloping, and reselling of foreclosed or abandoned homes to stabilize neighborhoods and stem the decline of the property values of neighboring homes.

State HFAs work actively to preserve affordable rental properties "at-risk" of being lost to the affordable housing inventory and offer financing to profit and not-for-profit developers to encourage the preservation of affordable housing in their states.

The Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 created the project-based Section 8 rental assistance program. Under the program, HUD enters into contracts with property owners to provide rental assistance for a fixed period of time for low-income families.

The Rural Housing and Economic Development (RHED) program provides competitively awarded funds for capacity building at the state and local level for rural housing and economic development and to support innovative housing and economic development activities in rural areas.

HFAs are very involved in developing supportive housing. HFA supportive services staff work to provide housing for persons with physical disabilities, mental illness, substance abuse, and addictions, as well as homeless families, the elderly, and anyone else who can benefit from supportive services.